1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a fixing device and an image forming apparatus.
2. Related Art
In an image forming apparatus such as a printer, a copying machine or a facsimile, an unfixed image formed by a development through a developer is transferred onto a recording medium such as a paper, and the unfixed image thus transferred is heated and pressurized and is fixed onto the recording medium by a fixing device so that an image such as a character, a graphic, a pattern or a photograph image is formed.
The fixing device to be used in the image forming apparatus includes a belt fixing device having the following structure. The belt fixing device includes a heating rotor having a roll configuration to be heated by heating unit and to be thus rotated, an endless belt to be rotated in contact with an outer peripheral surface part in a direction of a rotating axis of the heating rotor, and a pressurizing member forming a pressure contact portion for pushing the endless belt against the outer peripheral surface part of the heating rotor to cause a recording medium having an unfixed image held thereon to pass between the pressure contact portion and the heating rotor.
In the belt fixing device of this type, the recording medium having the unfixed image held thereon is introduced into the pressure contact portion formed between the heating rotor and the endless belt and is caused to pass, and the unfixed image is thus heated and pressurized and is fixed onto the recording medium.